A car parts factory whose closure saw nearly 100 workers made redundant is back in business with ambitions to drive the creation of more than 50 jobs.

The Quinton Hazell water pump plant in Mochdre went into administration 18 months ago with staff told their jobs had gone.

As fears grew that it would never open again the site was bought by Indian firm Mark Exhausts in the summer of 2013.

But it was a case of starting from scratch for plant manager David Lewis with no staff and no customers.

The machinery in the then 160,000sq ft factory remained as did the site reputation’s for quality.

Around 15 former staff returned, cherry picked for their experience and talents, and all with a passion to see the business survive and grow.

Against the odds the new firm Mark Water Pumps secured contracts with names like Aston Martin, Volvo and Jaguar Land Rover and also blasted into the ‘aftermarket’ sector.

Now the firm is on target to sell 250,000 water pumps this year and have just launched their new brand Pro Flow, with the tagline Made in Wales - Fitted Around the World.

They are now recruiting apprentices with the ambition to be selling 600,000 pumps a year within three years.

That could see the workforce, now 17, up to around 50 or 60 staff.

David said: “Every member of staff that has come back here has ‘sweated for the shirt’.

“They have passion for the business, a passion to see it survive and now we feel it is in our hands.

“Everything was left here in terms of machinery and we now have a 60,000 sq ft site, which although reduced gives us the space we need.

“There is capacity here to produce 1m water pumps a year - the equipment is here, we would just need to add the people.

“It is happening gradually, we are all driven by the ambition to bring back our former colleagues but we also need new blood as well, that is why we are currently recruiting apprentices.”

It is a far cry from February last year when parent company Klarius went into administration.

Administrator KPMG closed the factory which had been manufacturing car parts for more than 60 years and included Opel and Nissan among its customers.

There were tears from staff, some of whom had been there for more than 40 years.

David said: “At the time we knew something was going on but we found out on the internet that the firm was going into administration.

“It was devastating for staff when they were told their jobs had gone. It was very difficult.

“I stayed here to work with administrators, the idea was to sell the plant as a going concern but administrators were also pricing everything up to be sold off to pay debts. If that had happened it would never have come back.”

The plant was then saved in June 2013 when it was bought by Mark Exhausts.

David said: “They said to get on with running the business. I remember being stood in the factory, no staff, no customers in the shell of the former business.”

For David the first task was to bring back that crucial experience that had made the site known around the world for quality. He said: “I got in touch with former colleagues, the very best that were here and told them we were starting again.

“I was concerned customers would not come back after what happened with Klarius. But I found that people did not blame us and we still had a pedigree for quality.

“That is how we can compete with manufacturers from the other countries who can produce pumps for less.

“We have two advantages, our quality and also our turnaround times. Our export market is strong and we have been especially strong in Germany where they really value the quality.”

The majority of sales are in the ‘aftermarket’ where product is produced at the factory and shipped in the client’s preferred packaging. But last month their own brand launched with hopes this will bring more growth. David said: “This is all down the workforce here and their passion to make it work.”